A housing for a mobile telephone generally comprises a front and a rear casing. The electronic circuitry and other components of the telephone are mounted on one casing and the other casing part fits over it in a back-to-back relationship to form an enclosure around the circuitry and components. The two casing halves ate attached to each other and are separable to enable access to the interior of the telephone for maintenance and other requirements such as insertion or removal of a SIM card. Additionally, design conscious consumers often prefer to personalise their telephone by replacing one or both parts of the casing with another of a different colour so it is important that a consumer can separate the casing portions without difficulty. Screws or clips may be used to attach the two casing halves together.
A disadvantage with a conventional housing such as that described above is that the join between the two housing portions extends all the way around the assembled telephone housing and is clearly visible. This compromises the design and appearance of the telephone thereby reducing the overall quality and feel of the product to consumers. Furthermore, the housing of a mobile telephone is subject to considerable wear and must not break too readily when inadvertently dropped. As the conventional housing is formed in two back-to-back parts releasably joined together, the overall strength and rigidity of the housing is reduced thereby increasing the likelihood that one or both parts will break on impact. It is possible to increase the strength and rigidity of a conventional housing by increasing the thickness of the materials from which the casing is made. However, this results in an increase in overall weight which also needs to be kept to a minimum.